The first historical eruption of Anatahan , CNMI

Awards: 03-05248, 03-05218 (May 2003)

D. Hilton1, T. Fischer2

1Scripps Institution of Oceanography; 2 University of New Mexico

Anatahan Volcano, situated in the Commonwealth of the Northern (CNMI), erupted for the first time in recorded history on May 10, 2003. The eruption prompted a period of intensive study and collaboration between researchers from a number of governmental agencies, institutes and universities, and resulted in a special session dedicated to the eruption at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in December of the same year (see EOS. Trans. AGU 84(46), p. 1561-1563). A special volume of Journal Volcanology & Geothermal Research comprising thirteen research papers grew out of the AGU special session and covered four principal themes: (a) background geological studies of Anatahan carried out prior to the May, 2003 event including mapping of both the submarine and subaerial portions of the volcano and monitoring of the local seismicity following activity in 1990, (b) geophysical signals of the 2003 eruption, (c) petrology and geochemistry of the eruptive products of the 2003 erup- tion, and (d) impacts associated with the 2003 eruption. Anatahan Volcano continues to be active - albeit at a lower level compared to the spring of 2003, so re- mains the focus of con- siderable research and monitoring efforts.

Figure: The first historical eruption of Anatahan vol- cano, CNMI. The eruption occurred on May 10, 2003 and prompted an intense period of inter-disciplinary study involving representa- tives of MARGINS, USGS and Emergency Manage- ment Office, .

Hilton, D. R., Fischer, T. P., McGonigle, A. & de Moor, J. M. Variable SO2 emission rates for Anatahan volcano, the Commonwealth of the : Implications for deriving arc-wide volatile fluxes from erupting volcanoes Anatahan fluxes. Geophysical Res. Lett. 34, doi:10.1029/2007GL030405. (2007). Hilton, D.R., Pallister, J.S. and Pua, R.M. (2005) The 2003 eruption of Anatahan volcano, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Special Issue of J. Volcanol. Geothermal Research, volume 146 (1-3) pp 1-255. Wiens, D.A., Shore, P.J., Sauter, A., Hilton, D.R., Fischer, T. and Camacho, J. T. (2004) Observing the historic eruption of Northern Mariana Islands Volcano. EOS Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 85 10.1029/2004EO010003 (2 pages). 19